More Dark Knight Viral Marketing Swag!

Another component of the Dark Knight viral marketing brings another box of goodies to my mailbox, I believe due to my recent "Batman sighting" submission at Gotham Cable News.

I received a small square box from "CFB" today. I thought to myself, "Who the heck is CFB?!?!"

I popped open the lid and discovered:



SWEET!

Inside was two logo stickers, two bumper stickers, and a note - Click image to enlarge:


As well as an uber-groovy keychain and pin!


My keychain was molded with a stunted top blade, but I just figure it's a "battle-damaged" version!

This amazing viral marketing campaign is obviously coming to a close soon, with the movie being released July 18th. It's been gobs of fun, I've met and interacted with many great people online and off, and I've netted some righteous goodies, including all three issues of The Gotham Times, a sweet bunch of Harvey Dent campaign materials:



and a couple Joker cards from the advanced screening of the trailer.

So keep your eyes on Citizensforbatman.org on July 8th, it appears there will be at least one more online viral push. If you're lucky, there may even be a shot at some swag!

"It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

...it's the nineties once again!"



"At least they gave me a haircut."

Ahh yes, the nineties. A tough time to be a superhero. Green Arrow died, Wonder Woman was replaced, Green Lantern went mad, Batman's back was broken, the Spawn movie was released (yes, the nineties were tough on fans too!)

However, all these events paled in comparison to what the last son of Krypton was forced to go through.

First Superman died. Then he came back...with long hair. Then he became a blue energy being. THEN he split into two separate beings, the aforementioned blue version and a red version of himself, as represented here from DC Universe Classics.

"The only thing dumber than a Red Superman would be a Red Hulk!"


Superman Red is part of DCUC Series Two. For reasons not entirely known, but likely stemming from the newness of the line and retailer/manufacturer under/over speculation, this series is pretty tough to find. I personally have not seen one single figure from series two on shelves anywhere. I had to trade with a couple friends to get mine.

And since Superman Red and Superman Blue are almost the same figure (only their facial sculpts are different...and their colors of course,) I almost didn't bother to track down Superman Red.



"I guess it would be wise to cancel my swimming classes."

I'm glad I did. He is actually superior to Superman Blue (his angry expression adds more emotion to the figure,) and his colors are bold and really stand out. All of the DCUC action figures have excellent articulation, and Supes Red is no exception. Lots of heroic Super-poses are possible!

The electric bolts on his arms are removable, but the bolts stemming from his back are not. No big deal there, the bolts all add a nice "something extra" to the figure and make him unique and visually dynamic.

He also came with the same piece of the Collect and Connect Gorilla Grodd figure as Superman Blue, so you don't really have to get both Supes to complete the line's bonus figure.

But I would highly recommend you get them both if you can. Aside from the greatness of the figure, the series is still going through retailer-related "growing pains." The difficulty in finding these may make them rarer than most, and the last thing you want to do is be the guy who says "I passed that one up and now I'm kicking myself!" which is the sad battle cry for many toy collectors.

"They're After Me Lucky Charms!"

Or more accurately, they're in my Lucky Charms!


These little "Super-Deformed" Batman and Joker action figures/figurines are now appearing inside specially marked boxes of General Mills cereals.


I recently heard about this promo through the cyber-grapevine, where it was first reported that they were appearing in boxes of Cheerios. Sufficed to say, I have been stalking the cereal aisles ever since.

Apparently people in my neck of the woods don't burn through Cheerios very quickly. The stores around here still have boxes promoting Speed Racer, (which was in and out of theaters faster than the powerful Mach 5.)

Thankfully General Mills is spreading the Bat-wealth, and has also placed these groovy little Gothamites into boxes of yummy, nutritious Lucky Charms. The locals must eat plenty of Lucky Charms, as there was shelf after shelf of new stock today.

There are four figures available, two Batmen (Batmans?) and two Jokers.

I decided to buy two boxes in order to raise my odds. I love Batman, but I need a Joker. Because, to be frank, when was the last time a toy appeared in a box of cereal depicting an anarchic, soulless murderer portrayed by a recently deceased actor?

My guess is, never.

Also, if toy collecting history is any gauge, self appointed watchdog groups are going to have a hissy-fit when they actually see the Joker's portrayal in the upcoming film, and realize that their toddlers are playing with a scarred, sickening psychopath that plopped into their bowls at breakfast.

This isn't Caesar Romero.

So I returned home with my two boxes of cereal, promptly tore them open, and discovered:


Batman and the Joker! Huzzah! The luck o' the Irish was with me today!

These guys are actually quite nice for cereal premiums. They are small, about 2.5" tall, but they are very well detailed, and each has a different "spring action" feature. The Batman I have has a spring loaded punch, and my Joker has a spring loaded kick.

Joker truly is the best of the two. Even his scar is sculpted into his cheeks. His foot extends forward for pull-back kicking action, which gives him a little extra dimension. There's a tiny bit of extra green paint smudged on his brow, but otherwise the paint details are very well done. I love his jagged "smile."

"Eat your breakfast kids, so you too can be a - Hee Hee Hee - Cereal Killer!"


And the Batman, well the Batman is just plain cute. Lots of details sculpted into his costume as well.
"Vigilantism: part of this complete breakfast."


SNAP! KRACKLE! POP!


"I'm coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs!"

I'm going to keep trying for the other two, but that could amount to a lot of cereal.

Lucky Charms for everyone!

Life is a Highway

I'm obviously on a Transformer kick this week. Writing about the last couple toys has gotten me thinking more and more about the various Transformers I have or have had over the past three decades.

While everyone loves Generation 1, there have been many undeniably cool Transformers throughout many different series over the years. Some series have been more successful than others, both from a collector and a market perspective. But thankfully all of them have done well enough to keep Transformers alive.

The ones I personally love the most pay homage to the characters of G1. Sometimes they are the same character, sometimes they hint at someone from G1, but I really love the nods to the core characters of old.



That's why in 2005 I just had to have Downshift. Part of the Energon series (another cartoon that I did not watch. If the following intro does not explain why, you don't know me very well.)



Downshift is obviously really Wheeljack.





I would have loved to have had a Wheeljack as a kid, but I didn't. Downshift here is a reasonable replacement however, and in many ways is probably *gasp* superior. He has good articulation, a really cool robot mode, and although his vehicle mode isn't spot on to the Lancia Stratos that G1 Wheeljack converted into, it's pretty close and at least cool enough to be acceptable as some sort of European supercar, and probably way more acceptable on the open highway (I never understood who Jazz, Wheeljack, and Mirage thought they were fooling. You ever seen an open cockpit F1 on the freeway? "Robots in Disguise" my ass.)



The color scheme is right on target to G1/cartoon Wheeljack as well.



I don't know why they didn't flat out name him Wheeljack, maybe it had something to do with copyright laws. Whatever, he'll always be Wheeljack to me.

BTW I needed to find his instructions online to transform him for the pics and found Hasbro's instructions site - if you need to remember how to transform a recent toy and can't locate your instructions, or if you just want to see how some of the toys you don't have transform, it's a great resource!

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down...

Back in the early 2000s another of the many versions of Transformers appeared on the scene. Known as Robots in Disguise, this series got Transformers back to their vehicular roots (as opposed to the Beast Wars concept which I just could not get behind in any fashion.)

There was also a cartoon, which I didn't watch. I believe it was a Japanese series that was altered for US audiences. I wish they just gave us straight translations, but they tend to re-write entire episodes/characters etc. in situations like these and the end result is usually junk.

I did pick up a couple of the toys however. Mostly out of nostalgia, few of them really blew my socks off.

Except this one:






Known as Scourge on the Robots in Disguise cartoon and Black Convoy in Japan, this is Optimus Prime's evil doppleganger. The figure is actually a re-paint of the gawd awfully colored G2 Laser Optimus Prime from 1995. Man, that thing was butt ugly, which is sad because this is an amazing transformer!



Thankfully they brought the toy back...but this time he's black with turquoise trim and Decepticon allegiance!



He's an awesome figure - a simple transformation with excellent truck and robot likenesses. His sword stashes under his rear axles so you can't lose it (that's a bonus for anyone who grew up with G1 parts all over the place) and he has all kinds of articulation: knees, hips, waist, elbows, head etc. for tons of poses! His trailer transforms into a battle station, with tons of firepower, but all the missiles are boxed up, so I didn't bother transforming it for the photo shoot.




From what I understand this one was hard to come by...it may have been a Toys R Us exclusive or something. Whatever, I have him so I am happy.

Everything Old Is New Again...

I have seen a few episodes of the new Transformers Animated series. It's pretty good. As good, if not better, than the original. Which in all seriousness, isn't saying much (hey, I love it too, but it ain't high art.)






The best part about the new cartoon is the re-imaginings and re-introductions of all the G1 characters. The show features pretty much all the characters we've grown to love, true to their original incarnations, with a modern twist. They've done very good to continue to introduce fan favorite characters throughout the series, like Ultra Magnus, Wreck-Gar, Blitzwing, and three of the Dinobots.



The only character I don't like is Prowl, as he is too far removed in his robot/vehicle mode from the G1 Prowl to even be recognizable as Prowl.

But back to the topic at hand. The toys!


"The Eighties were not good to you."


The toys are way too cool! For Father's day I received the Cybertronian Megatron from my oldest daughter. I like this one a lot, for a couple reasons. First, it's his Cybertronian version, so he pretty much can transform into anything and I'm okay with that, because we all know there are no Walther P-38s on Cybertron.

Second, he looks so much like his G1 version (but with Cybertronian attributes) that I can accept in my cartoon addled mind that this is the definitive version of a pre-Earth Megatron.



There is an Earth Megatron coming soon, and his robot version is even more in step with that of the G1 Megatron. He converts into a Helicopter, which is acceptable, and I will probably buy him.


"Touche."


Next up is Grimlock. I only found out that this guy was available in toy form recently, when folks at other toy blogs started finding him. I usually know about upcoming toys years in advance, and as Tom Petty says, the waiting is the hardest part.

So I was glad to only hunt for this guy for about a week or two before finding him. I waited longer for a G1 Grimlock, which I first acquired only a couple years ago.


"Me Grimlock coolest Autobot EVER!"


Let me just say this new Grimlock is un-freaking-believable. He is everything the original version is and more. He's the perfect melding of old and new. He's cool in both modes, and a solid figure in each version too (as opposed to the G1 which is kind of cumbersome in robot mode.)


"Me Grimlock STILL coolest Autobot EVER! Me should be king of Autobots!"

He transforms in almost the exact same fashion as his G1 counterpart too. Groovy.

There are a bunch of new figures out now, and tons more in the works. And coming soon is another Dinobot, the Triceratops Slag (now known as Snarl for some reason or another.)

Cue Tom Petty.

Da da da daaaa...Imperial!

ROOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



My little post about an Imperial dinosaur I found inspired fellow toy nut "Chunky B" of Eclectorama to post about his Imperial Godzilla. Which in turn inspired me to post my Imperial King Kong.

I recently bought this guy off eBay because he was part of an auction that included a 6" Imperial Godzilla that I was after. I believe King Kong came out in 1985 or so, at the same time Imperial was producing Godzilla.

He's a pretty good likeness of King Kong...better than the Godzilla offerings from Imperial. His arms move, and I added a little plastic car for him to toss through the air in a fit of primal fury!


Uh Oh...while roaming the forest Kong has crossed paths with the monstrous SmallZilla!


Run, Kong, Run! Don't just stand there...she's likely to....


SMOOOOCH!

Yech...cat germs!

I yam what I yam...

...and what I yam is a huge Popeye fan.



The Mezco series of Popeye figures from 2001 was one of the best action figure series of all time, as well as being the best Popeye toy set EVER!

Faithful, playable, chock full of great action features and accessories, these figures were awesome.

Sadly, they only made it to series three. Awesomely, they squeezed out folks like Poopdeck Pappy and Alice the Goon in the series' short lifespan. I was able to get everyone (besides re-paints) except Deep sea Popeye and Scuba Bluto. I'll cover them all soon.


Here's Peacoat Popeye - an homage to the beginning scene of the live action Popeye starring Robin Williams. He came with a muscle that you can add to his arm (making it appear his muscle is tearing through his coat,) a duffle bag, a can of spinach, a picture frame that says "Pappy," removable beanie, removable pipe (God bless you Mezco for taking the artistic high ground and not taking the moral high ground!) and a treasure map! He also has a "twisker fisk" action feature - wind up his fist, push the button, and watch it spin! Take THAT Bluto!



What's at the end of your treasure map Popeye? A true treasure...your first animated appearance:

Bat bikes bat bikes bat bikes!

I just picked up the Hotwheels Bat-Pod yesterday. Woohoo - what a groovy little bike! It is a great little representation of the upcoming Bat-Pod (at least from what little I've seen so far.)

The two pack set comes with an older Hot Wheels casting of an armored truck, painted up with a Joker theme. Cool, but not nearly as cool as the never-before-released Bat-Pod!



It's technically part of Hotwheels' standard 1:64 scale series, but looks to be closer to a true 1:50 scale. When I get the upcoming 1:50 Tumbler we'll see how they look next to each other, but I hope they are pretty close to the same scale.

I add the Bat-Pod to my humble die-cast Batcycle collection. Here's my Corgi Bat Bike, dated 1978:


Next up is a Hot Wheel designed Bat Bike put out in conjunction with Batman Begins. The bike is clearly based on the Dodge Tomahawk. There were two versions of the Batman figurine that this bike came with, one of him standing and this one with him riding the bike:







Finally, this animated Bat bike first came out during the animated series heyday in the nineties. The second release came with a Batgirl figure, which is pretty cool! From Hasbro, dated 1997 (although the Batgirl version came out a couple years after that if I remember correctly.)




Everyone dug the Bat-Pod. They all wanted to take it out for a little spin: